The Map and the Territory

History of Maps and Cartography

Course 1 · Chapter 10 · The Map Is Not the Territory

The phrase "the map is not the territory" is usually credited to the philosopher Alfred Korzybski (check). It is the thread of this course: every map, from a clay tablet to a phone screen, is a choice about what to show. This last chapter sets the story on one timeline, tests the myths raised in Chapter 1, and offers a short method for reading any map you meet. Names and dates are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

Timeline

Date (check each)	Event
About 600 BC	Babylonian clay-tablet world map (Chapter 1)
Third century BC	Eratosthenes estimates the Earth's size (Chapter 2)
Second century AD	Ptolemy's Geography (Chapter 2)
1154	Al-Idrisi's work for Roger II of Sicily (Chapter 3)
About 1300	Hereford Mappa Mundi and early portolan charts (Chapter 3)
1507	Waldseemüller's map names America (Chapter 4)
1569 and 1570	Mercator's world map; Ortelius's atlas (Chapters 4 and 5)
1747–1755	Military Survey of Scotland (Chapter 6)
1791	Ordnance Survey founded (Chapter 6)
1714 and 1760s	Longitude Act; Harrison's timekeeper trials (Chapter 7)
1854	Snow's cholera map (Chapter 8)
1931	Beck's Tube map (Chapter 8)
1972 onwards	Landsat, then GPS and web maps (Chapter 9)

Myths Revisited

Myth	What the evidence suggests (check each)
Medieval people thought the Earth was flat.	Educated writers described a sphere; mappae mundi are diagrams of the known world (Chapter 3).
Columbus proved the Earth was round.	The dispute was about its size, and Columbus underestimated it (Chapter 4).
The Mercator map is "wrong".	It does what it was designed for, and misleads when used for comparing areas (Chapter 5).
Sea monsters show that people believed in them.	They also served as decoration, warning and symbols of the unknown (Chapters 3 and 4).
John Snow's map ended cholera.	It was an argument within a wider inquiry, and the epidemic was already declining (Chapter 8).
Harrison alone solved longitude.	Astronomy and clockmaking both contributed (Chapter 7).
Digital maps are neutral.	They embody choices about data, names and design (Chapter 9).

Six Questions for Any Map

1. Who made it?

A person, a state, a company or a community, and with what training and interests.

2. For whom and why?

A traveller, a ruler, a student, a customer. The purpose decides what is included.

3. From what source?

A survey, an older map, a report or a data feed. Copied errors travel far.

4. What choices does it make?

Scale, projection, orientation, symbols, colours, class breaks and labels.

5. What does it leave out?

People, places, uncertainties and alternatives that would change the message.

6. How would I check it?

Compare with another map, a survey, the ground or a reliable account.

A Worked Example

The claim A news article shows a world map with a large red shape across Africa and the caption "the continent is bigger than the whole of Europe, the United States and China combined". Is the map a fair picture?

Who and why? A graphic made to make a point about size, probably to correct the impression given by Mercator maps (check the source).
Choices. The map has to move countries onto Africa's outline, so it uses an equal-area view or a drawn comparison, and the countries must keep their true areas.
Check. Africa's area is about 30 million square kilometres, which can be compared with figures for the other countries, with an allowance for how land area is counted and which territories are included (check the numbers).
What it leaves out. Gaps between countries when they are packed in, and the fact that area says nothing about population or wealth.
Verdict. The point is probably sound as a statement of area, and the exact claim depends on figures that should be verified.

A British comparison Next time you use an Ordnance Survey Explorer map for a walk, ask the same six questions. The sheet is the product of a long survey, and its symbols, contour interval and footpath information are decisions. The walk itself, with its mud, weather and stiles, is the territory, which the map can only represent.

Check the details The attribution of "the map is not the territory" to Korzybski, and every date in the timeline, should be checked in a reliable source before you quote them.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Apply the six questions to a map of your choice, and write a short assessment of how far to trust it.

→ Solution

Exercise 2

Choose one myth from the table and write a one-paragraph correction with the evidence it rests on.

→ Solution

Exercise 3

Make your own map of a place you know well, such as your route to work, for a particular purpose, and write down five choices you made.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

Thread: the map is not the territory
Six questions: who, why, source, choices, omissions, checks
Method: state what is documented, claimed or unknown
Projection: fit it to the task
Digital maps: still made by people, with choices

Course complete You have finished History of Maps and Cartography: what a map is, the Greek geographers, the Roman and medieval traditions, print and the age of discovery, projections, national surveys, charts and longitude, thematic maps, satellites and screens, and a method for reading any map. Related courses on the site include The Age of Exploration.